Piastri Prioritizes Long-Term Success over the Title Battle
Oscar Piastri has made it clear that he will not adopt a more aggressive approach in the fight for this year’s championship if that compromises his long-term success with McLaren. The Australian driver is in an intense battle with his teammate, Lando Norris, for this season’s drivers’ crown.
After complying with a controversial team order at the Italian Grand Prix, Piastri saw his lead in the standings reduced, now being 31 points behind his teammate.
McLaren’s team order, which forced Piastri to concede second position to Norris, raised questions about the team’s possible interference in the fight for the championship.
We’ve had some very good discussions this week about what happened and what can be clarified, what can be improved. That’s always a learning process, I suppose. But yes, ultimately, I know the team will have my best interests at heart. And, ultimately, I want to protect that because I can’t have my own success without the team having success. So protecting that is something very important to me.
Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri (izquierda) quiere asegurar el éxito del equipo McLaren en la lucha por el título de este año.When asked if he would take a more ruthless attitude in the remaining eight races to secure the championship, Piastri added: “Not at the expense of future success. Definitely not.”
The incident at Monza was further complicated by McLaren’s strategy of pitting their drivers in an unusual order, to defend Piastri’s third position from the threat of Charles Leclerc, of Ferrari.
Norris even suggested by radio that Piastri pit before him, but only understanding that his teammate would not gain a position with the “undercut” advantage of changing to new tires one lap earlier.
McLaren changed Piastri’s tires in 1.9 seconds on lap 45, the fastest pit stop by any team this season, while Norris’s stop took 5.9 seconds on lap 46, which caused him to drop to third position, behind Piastri exiting the pits.
When his race engineer, Tom Stallard, first asked him to concede position, Piastri appeared to question whether Norris’ slow stop was sufficient reason to swap the cars.
“We said a slow pit stop was part of racing,” Piastri said on the radio. “I don’t really understand what changed here… But if you want me to do it, I will.”
However, when Piastri heard Stallard repeat the order, he said he felt obliged to comply with the team’s wishes.
“I think at the time, obviously, I questioned it over the radio as racing drivers often do and as we’re encouraged to do,” Piastri explained. “But I think, for me, once I got the second request, at that point I’m always going to respect that call.”
